The Nationals did not make free agent right-hander Edwin Jackson a qualifying offer by Friday night’s deadline and would seem to have an opening in their 2013 starting rotation for a guy like John Lannan.

But Lannan probably won’t be given that shot.

According to Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post, “people familiar with the Nationals’ thinking” expect them to either trade Lannan this winter or non-tender him, allowing the 28-year-old lefty to walk as a free agent. The Nats could then used the money saved to pursue someone high-priced. Kilgore lists Kyle Lohse, Ryan Dempster and Dan Haren as possibilities.

Lannan had a 4.13 ERA in six major league starts this season while earning a $5 million salary as a second-year arbitration-eligible player. He spent the majority of the summer with the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs.

Not surprising. The biggest problem with Lannan is that since his sophomore year in 2009 his number of innings pitched per start has gone down from 6.25 to only 5.56 in 2011 and 5.36 in limited duty in 2012. Not only does he have mediocre stuff, he doesn’t “save” the bullpen. He’s no better than a No. 5 starter at this point.

The explanation is given in the stats above. Five million and change with a dilating ERA and a steadily decreasing ability to keep his team in the game – losing about an inning per start per year last few years. This isn’t rocket science. Rizzo took this team from joke to playoffs. Gameface seems dedicated to posting here only often enough to prove what an ignorant, emptily opinionated clown he is.

It pains me to type this, but I agree with willclarkgameface on this one. The Nats paid Edwin Jackson 10 million last year for ten wins. Lannan had 10 wins the year before when the Nats weren’t nearly as good as this year. I’m confident he would have been a perfectly capable number 5 starter next year for half the cost of Jackson (or less). I expect him to catch on somewhere else and capably fill that role.

gator I didn’t see the comment until after I posted…so there you go…I still think he would fit well mabye in the al central weaker division…mabye the west with petco or San Fran big ball parks…ah well…someone will pick him up but not the yankees